Automatic loop-setter for kinetoscope-films.



N. POWER.

AUTOMATIC LOOP SETTER FOR KINETOSGOPE FILMS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.15, 1912.

Patsnted Jan. 28, 1913.

2 SHEET S-SHEET l.

3X Mime/wee: I

N. POWER.

AUTOMATIC LOOP SETTER FOR KINETOSGOPE FILMS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.15, 1912.

1,051,632. Patented Jam, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

2}; was: 1 [53 noon/1 oz I b 33h @Ho 1 e A) 83 A i To all whom it may concern:

' Brooklyn,

NICHOLAS POWER,

or Bnooxmm, new YORK.

AUTOMATIC LOOP-SETTEB; FOB KINETOSCOPE-FILMS.

Be it known that I, NIoHoLAs POWER, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, wit-h post-ofiice address at No. 388 Jefierson avenue, have invented an Automatic Loop-Setter for Kinetoscope-Films, of which the following is a specification.

In motion picture machines as at present almost universally constructed the reel of film to be exhibited is placed in a magazine at the top of the machine and is there fed through the projecting apparatus by a feed mechanism comprising a continuously driven sprocket below. the magazine and an intermittently driven sprocket below the projection aperture. The teeth of the feed sprockets engage perforations in the margins of the film and the film is threaded in the machine so that the top sprocket maintains a certain amount of slack in the film between the sprockets to prevent undue tension on the film during the operation of the intermittent sprocket. .Beneath the intermittent sprocket a second continuously driven sprocket is arranged for controlling the feed of the film to the receiving reel beneath the machine. This reel is driven through a slip gear which maintains a constant tension on the film to secure proper winding, this tension normally coming on the lower continuous sprocket, the film being originally so threaded as toprovide a loop between the intermittent sprocket and the lower sprocket. If, however, for any reason the film becomes disengaged from the lower sprocket the reel will take up the loop and this sudden pull comin on the film temporarily held stationary mittent sprocket frequently film before the operator can stop the machine, as well as causing annoying delays in the exhibition while the operator re-sets the film with the proper loop. a

The object of-the present invention is to' provide means for preventing undue tension coming on the film when such shppage occurs and for automatically re-settin the loop in the film, without in any way interfering with the exhibition.

The invention is illustrated as applied to the motion picture machine known as Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 15, 1912. Serial 1%. 690,899.

. the interamages the Patented Jan. 28, 1913.

Powers cameragraph, but it is obvious part of the frame being broken-away to show details of construction.

Fig. 2 is a view partly in front elevation A and partly in longitudinal section of the device shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view in plan of the structure shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. i is a view partly in elevation and partly in vertical longitudinal section of a modified form of the device. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of a typical machine showing the entire feed mechanism. Fig. 6 is a detail view of a portion in Fig. 4.

Referring now to the drawings and particularly to Fig. 5; l designates the film which passes down from the upper reel a over the upper sprocket 6 thence beneath the guide 0 ad acent the projection aperture, over the intermittent sprocket d. From the sprocket d the film passes downward in a loop 2 and then over the sprocket 3 hem of the structure shown which it passes to the lower reel a. The

loop 2. is shown in Fig. 5, and also in dot and dash lines in Fig. 1, as of substantially the size in which the said loop will be formed when the machine is running normally.

I have not illustrated in detail the driving mechanism of the upper and intermittent sprockets as the same forms no part of the resent invention. It willbe under stoo however, that they are driven in the usual manner from the driving shaft 6. The lower sprocket 3 is fast to a shaft 3 rotatably mounted in a suitable hearing beyond which its end projects as shownmore particularly in Fig. 2. Attached tothis projecting end of the shaft 3 is a sleeve 15 provided with a lug 14 adapted to fit a corresponding recess in the hub 12 of a gear 13 slidingly mounted on the sleeve between the bearln and at fast to the end 0 the sleeve. The gear 13 is connected by suitable intermediate gears to the driving shaft e and the pulley wheel 9 pulley wheel beyond the sprocket take up the loo 'on the end of the arm 9 is belted to the'driving pulley of the lower reel so that whenever the lug 14 is 111 engagement with the recess in the gear, the sprocket and reel will be continuously driven. The hub 12 of the car 13 is provided with a circumferentia groovell in which engages a fork 10 attached to the end of a rod 8 slidingly mounted in the frame adjacent the bearing of the shaft 3" and provided with a spring 9 holding the recess in hub 12 in engagement wit its lug. Pivoted to the frame to the rear of rod 8 is an arm 16 carrying at its free end a stubshaft 6 on which is freely mounted a flanged roller 5 overlying the film within the loop 2, a pin 17 being provided to support the arm with the roller 5 just above the'bottom of the loop. A. wedge-shaped cam 7 is formed 16 in such position that when the roller 5 is raised, as will be later described, it will shift the rod 8 and disengage the gear 13. I

The operation of the mechanism will now be described. I

Under normal conditions the film follows the path shown in Fig. 5 and in dot and dash lines in Fig. 1, the pull of the reel maintaining a constant 3. If now the film becomes disengaged from the sprocket by reason of mutilated driving perforations, or for any other reason, the pull of the reel will 2, raising the spool 5 until the filrntakes t e position shown in dotted lines at 4 in Fig. 1. In moving to this position the spool 5 moves the cam 7 across the end of the pin 8 forcing the gear 13 toward the pulley wheel, thereby disen gaging the hub from the lug 14 and permitting the reel and sprocket to stop before damage is done to the film. As soon as the reel stops, the tension on the film ceases so that the continued operation of the intermittent sprocket quickly re-forms the loop, permitting the roller 5 to drop and with it the cam 7 so that the sprin 9 will again engage the shaft 3 with t e driving ar 13 to drive the sprocket and reel as be ore. If the perforations in the film sprocket teeth the reel will again draw up the loop, presenting a fresh portion of the film to the sprocket 3, and so on, sto ping and re-starting the reel without inte ering with the operation of the machine until an unmutilated portion of the film reaches the sprocket 3 and properly engages the same. In thev slightly modified construction shown in Fi s. 4 and 6 instead of the sleeve 15 on the en of the shaft 3", a collar is fast thereto, which collar is provided with a hole parallel with shaft 3 for the reception of a pin 32 fast in a collar 33 slidirlilgly mounted on the shaft. The driving p ley for the reel is fast to the end of the shaft as before,

tension on the film do not now engage theand between the pulley and a shoulder on the shaft the driving gear 30 is rotatably' mounted but held against axial movement. The pin 32 projects beyond both faces of the collar 33, and the gear 30 is rovided with a hole 31 for the reception of the adjacent end of the pin when the collar 33 is shifted toward the gear, the opposite end of the pin being sufficiently long to be always in engagement with the collar fast to the shaft. The collar 33 is engaged b a yoke on the pin 8, similar to the for 10, and the pin is provided with a spring 9 as described above, but it will be observed that in this construction movement of the collar toward the bearing under the influence of the spring disengages the clutch, hence the operating cam 34 is reversed and normally holds the clutch members in engagement a ainst the tension of the spring, but when t e cam is raised it permits the s ring to move the collar to disengage the utch. When the re-forming of the loop permits the roller 5 to drop, the weight of the cam and roller overcomes the tension of the s ring and again forces the clutch members into engagement.

Having .thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to-secure by Let ters Patent, is

1. In a machine for projecting motion pictures, the combination of a plurality of sprockets for feeding a film through the machine,.means for operatin the sprockets, and means for aut'omatical y varying the relative movement of the s rockets to maintain a redetermined slac in the film between e sprockets. r

2. In a machine for projecting motion pictures, .the combination of an intermittent sprocket and a lower continuously revolving sprocket, a film roller engaging a loop of filmlietween the sprockets and devices associated with said roller for disengaging the driving connections of said lower sprocket when the film is caused to advance rapidly over said sprocket.

3. In a machine for projectin motion pictures, the combination of a film feed comprising an intermittent sprocket, a lower sprocket, means for normally operating said lower sprocket to maintain a certain amount of slack between the sprockets, and means for disengaging the operative means of the lower sprocket whenever the film is suddenly advanced thereon, and for rengaging said operating means when the lower sprocket has accumulated the initial amount of slack. I

4. In a machine of the class described, the combination of an intermittent sprocket, a sprocket beyond the intermittent sprocket, a continuously operating drivin mechanismtherefor, a clutch between sai sprocket end said mechanism, and means f0: 0pereing said clutch comprising a movable mem ber, adapted to be engaged by the film saida member being normally suppore remete from the line of the GLirect path of mavement of the film between said sproeke ss and adapted to disengage said clutch by EIGVQ- ment toward such line.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my .ame in the presence of witnesses.

NIGHQLAS POWER 

